I have received hundreds of similar letters, containing substantially the same testimony. In December of the year this letter came to me, I was confined to my hotel in England by a London fog one day; and in the first daily paper I picked up in the reading-room I was surprised to find myself "written up" in terms that made me blush; but the article pleased me because it contained the same idea my young friend had embodied in his letter.
Gratefully remembering my friends of over forty years' standing, and with a hearty recognition of those of more recent years, I return to them all my most sincere thanks for their generous appreciation of the work of my lifetime, and for their continued kindness to me from the first appearance of "The Boat Club" to the present time. I heartily wish them all continued health, prosperity, and happiness; and I do so in the sincere belief that I have never morally harmed any of my readers, but have added pleasure as well as moral and intellectual profit to their lives.
WILLIAM T. ADAMS
"Oliver Optic"
Dorchester, October 9, 1896
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | The Fourth of July coming | [ 19] |
| II. | The Widow Weston | [ 32] |
| III. | A Disappointed Boy | [ 47] |
| IV. | The Fourth of July | [ 60] |
| V. | The Club Boat | [ 77] |
| VI. | The Embarkation | [ 89] |
| VII. | Give Way Together | [ 102] |
| VIII. | The Second Lesson | [ 116] |
| IX. | The Stolen Wallet | [ 138] |
| X. | Tony's Case | [ 152] |
| XI. | The Boat-House | [ 166] |
| XII. | The First Meeting in Zephyr Hall | [ 180] |
| XIII. | The Thunderbolt | [ 194] |
| XIV. | The Collision | [ 207] |
| XV. | Centre Island | [ 221] |
| XVI. | The Geography of Wood Lake | [ 236] |
| XVII. | Overboard | [ 251] |
| XVIII. | Tim Bunker | [ 268] |
| XIX. | The Trial of Tony | [ 280] |
| XX. | The Stranger | [ 294] |
| XXI. | The Conclusion | [ 308] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | |
| I don't want to fight | [ 71] |
| I did not know It was there | [ 150] |
| Tim seized an Oar | [ 217] |
| You must come with Me | [ 279] |